Mechanism for control of ball spin rate by the upper limb in baseball pitching based on singular value decomposition

Abstract

This study aims to examine the mechanism by which the ball spin rate during fastball pitching is controlled by synergistic joint torque. The participants were seven baseball players. The kinematics and kinetics of the fingers, wrist, elbow, and shoulder were calculated using the inverse dynamics method. The synergistic relationship between the joint torques was calculated using singular value decomposition. The similarity of the spatial pattern of the joint torque in each participant was evaluated using cosine similarity. The results indicated that there were three types of synergistic torque control: (1) two pitchers had a synergistic torque control that was primarily based on shoulder internal rotation torque, (2) two pitchers had a synergistic torque control that was primarily based on elbow extension torque, and (3) three pitchers had a synergistic torque control that was primarily based on shoulder horizontal adduction torque. In particular, pitchers with a high spin rate relative to the ball velocity (SPV) had a torque control of the shoulder internal rotation type. In contrast, pitchers with a low SPV had a torque control of the shoulder horizontal adduction type. It is considered that pitchers with a high SPV execute shoulder internal rotation torque, which has the same direction as that of ball spin, based on hierarchical control to increase the ball spin rate. These results suggest that pitchers with high and low SPVs exhibit different motor patterns. Pitchers and coach need to focus on the shoulder joint as well as the fingers when they throw fastball.

Keywords: Baseball; Motor patterns; Spin rate; Synergistic torque; Upper arm.